Fitness-themed social media posts have become slightly less focussed on body image and more focused on motivating people to take part in exercise over the last ten years, a new study suggests. However, the researchers warn that a lot of content still risks perpetuating stigma about weight due to a lack of body diversity depicted in posts.
The study team was led by Dr Beth Bell of the University of York and included Dr Catherine Talbot of Bournemouth University. Their findings have been published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media.
“Social media content that aims to inspire fitness is hugely popular but has been criticised for being heavily objectifying and focussed on an attractive body, rather than simply helping people get fit and healthy,” explained Dr Catherine Talbot, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University. “A lot of content also carries problematic messages that can shame people for their dietary choices and behaviours,” she added.
Most of the research analysing such content has been based on posts from over five years ago. Since then, there has been a rise in attitudes around body positivity in media and society, so the researchers set out to see if fitness content has evolved since the early studies.
The team looked at Instagram posts with the hashtag “#fitspiration”, which has become increasingly popular over the past decade - rising from 1.8 million posts in 2014 to nearly 20 million in May 2021. They examined 1000 posts from 2021 and compared them to 1000 posts from the same period in 2014, analysing the style of images posted and the text that accompanied them.
They found notable differences between the two sets of posts. Fitspiration posts from 2021 contained significantly more exercise content and significantly less messages around diet. There were also fewer people in the images who adhered to cultural body ideals such as thinness and muscularity, and fewer markers of objectification – for example as a result of how an individual poses and their clothing.
Text that explicitly emphasised the link between fitness and sexual desirability were less prevalent in 2021, and text focusing on exercise-related knowledge and instruction was more common.
“Our analyses suggest that over time, #fitspiration posts have become slightly more exercise-focused and slightly less appearance-focused,” Dr Talbot said. “However, images from 2021 do continue to perpetuate problematic norms through a lack of diversity in the body types they present. Both creators and consumers of fitspiration content need to be aware of these issues we’ve identified to minimise any risks,” she concluded.
